Thread: Obama given power to cut greenhouse gases

Copenhagen climate summit: Barack Obama given power to cut greenhouse gases

President Barack Obama has taken powers to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars, factories and power plants across the United States.

By Geoffrey Lean
Published: 9:02PM GMT 07 Dec 2009

The news dramatically improves the prospects of reaching a new agreement to combat global warming at the climate summit which opened in Copenhagen on Monday.

His administration formally declared that the gases "endanger the public health and welfare of the America people" empowering its Environment Protection Agency to regulate them across the country under the country's Clean Air Act, without having to get a hotly-contested climate bill through the US Congress.

Lisa Jackson, the agency's administrator, said the move "relied on decades of sound, peer-reviewed, extensively evaluated scientific data" which both "authorised and obligated" it to take reasonable efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

She called it "a reasonable and common-sense measure" that would "drive technology innovation for a better economy and protect the environment for a better future without placing an undue burden" on business.

She added: "It also means that we arrive at the climate talks in Copenhagen with a clear demonstration of our commitment to facing this global challenge. We hope that today's announcement serves as another incentive for far-reaching accords"

But Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said that regulations under the Act would pose "a threat to every American family and business".

Late last month President Obama announced that the US was ready to cut emissions by 17 per cent on 2005 levels, boosting the prospects for agreement in Copenhagen. But until now that has been dependent on getting a bill through Congress.

A version of the bill was approved by the House of Representatives last summer, but the administration is struggling to get similar legislation through the Senate in the face of opposition from Republicans and some dissident Democrats from states with big oil, coal and car industries.

The new ruling gives Mr Obama the firepower to meet the target anyway. It also makes it much more likely that he will get the bill through Congress as the House bill would take away the agency's powers to regulate the gases and substitute a more flexible system which industry would greatly prefer.

It will also greatly improve the chances of getting a deal in Copenhagen, since other countries will now know that the US can deliver on any undertakings it makes there.

But Yvo de Boer, the Executive Secretary of the UN climate change negotiations, said that any agreement made in the Danish capital could still be a “suicide pactâ€

Man-made global warming (AGW) is nothing but a hoax, junk science BUNK, and a global governance SWINDLE.

http://www.petitionproject.org/

http://www.oism.org/pproject/

http://www.junkscience.org/

And then there was ClimateGate, the emails that showed the data was fudged and the books were cooked.

http://www.youtube.com/v/bKrw6ih8Gto

This is nothing more than a back-door attempt to sign an agreement in Copenhagen without the approval of Congress.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

This is nothing more than a back-door attempt to sign an agreement in Copenhagen without the approval of Congress.

POTUS can sign International Treaties but they can't be put onto effect without the treaty being ratified by the Senate.